Phoenix Down
by MythologyGirl
Summary: Her parents must have really wanted a son if they named their only child - a girl at that - Marco. (OC Reincarnation/Rebirth story, pairing undecided)
1. Her Name is Marco!

_**A/N:**_ I do not own One Piece or any of the games mentioned in this story.

* * *

She had been a gamer.

 _Had_ being the key word here. This crazy ass land she had been reborn into didn't seem to have any games unless she wanted to play pirates and marines with the other island kids. Which she didn't. She really, really didn't.

Still, the look on her new mother's face when she had asked for a Playstation 4 for her fifth birthday (because 5 was old enough in her last life to finally convince her parents video games weren't poison sent by Satan) would have been hilarious, you know, if she hadn't been holding back her own hysteric tears when she realized there was no such thing in this life. (Her new parents had thought she was suffering from delirium when she begged and screamed that it couldn't be true. That particular trip to the village doctor hadn't been fun.)

How the hell did these people live!?

She found out the answer to that desperate question the hard way. They farmed. No kidding. She was reborn into a family of farmers and let her tell you, real farming was not as fun as _virtual_ farming. It couldn't even hold a candle to the former's blazing inferno of hours spent cultivating crops bigger than her character's head. Seriously, what the hell was this shit?

Not only did she have to wait months for any of the hard labor to bear fruit (literally), the food they cultivated only went for a few measly beri! (Which was apparently the name of the currency in this world.) How was she supposed to afford all the gifts for birthdays and such to give to everyone in the village in order to make them love her if her family was hardly making ends meet as it was? She had tried giving the Mayor a weed from the fields one, the sour look the old man gave her was enough to say he wasn't pleased out all. Marco couldn't help but think he should get inline with that displeasure though because she felt cheated too.

Very, _very_ cheated.

Thank the lord that has otherwise forsaken her that she got her new mother's normal shaped head instead of her new father's egg shaped one. That would have been a particularly hard curse to break. She still got his droopy as fuck eyes though, which may have been more from her soul slowly shriveling and decaying from lack of any high graphic stimulation than it was hereditary.

Give her a break, she never said she wasn't dramatic .

She also kept her light blonde hair long in this life, where in her last she had cropped it short. No matter what anyone in the village said about Mom 2.0 being a sweetheart could ever shake Marco's feelings of fear when the woman brandished a pair of shears, threatening to cut off Marco's fingers, if her daughter so much as even _thought_ about cutting her locks any shorter then just below the shoulder. It was a pain, but Marco would suffer having to wash her hair more than once every three days if it meant the woman would just put the shears down before she took out an eye. She liked her appendages where they were, thank you.

As Marco grew older in this new world, her wish that a restart button so she could remake her avatar existed grew with her. Sure, it wasn't as if her avatar wasn't cute - she was adorable, thank you! - but she wanted something more exciting, some sort of feature that would really make her stand out among the NPC villagers around her. She didn't want to be just another two-bit character that was easily forgotten in this life - not again.

Problem was she didn't know how to be anything but a side character here. In the last life she lived, that blissful technology induced wonderful life, she had been able curb her inadequacies and discontent with her games. She could be whomever she wanted whenever she wanted. Here she could only ever be Marco, the daughter and only child to a pair of farmers, and she wanted to make the best of that - would make the best of that.

The young girl nodded proudly to herself, possible crisis averted. She had a new life goal, a new mission: be the best damn girl named Marco that ever lived!

 ** _Mission title:_** Make the World a Game.

* * *

When she finally realized where she was, _who_ she was, everything changed.

She was Marco the fucking _**Phoenix**_. Future 1st division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates and overall fiery badass. She hadn't been reborn as some random NPC with cognizant thoughts, that had been born purely to cause havoc upon her new home village. No, she had been reborn as a significant part of the Whitebread crew, she had been reborn a pirate. And, despite the fact she felt a little bad for taking Original Marco's place, she was just as thrilled she had.

It had been her tenth birthday and her withdrawal from the world of 21st century geekary was starting to have adverse effects on her when she had finally figured that tiny piece of information out. She blamed her slow uptake on the fact that she didn't follow the anime that closely, instead she mainly liked to play the games. Though, she does supposes that adorable verbal tick of 'yoi' she had randomly developed in this life should have been a major hint of just where and who she was.

After her discovery had actually sunk in, she did what anyone one would do when they found out they have taken over the life of a fictional character - she screamed like a fangirl. The loud shrieking - akin to a particularly annoying bird Dad 2.0 would grumble fondly - escaping from her tiny body had startled Mom 2.0 so much she had dropped the cake she had painstakingly baked. Marco did feel a little guilty about that, after all, the older woman's cakes Marco was certain come from food heaven.

 _Wait. Stop._

 **New life goal:** get the Whitebeard Pirates to play a live version of _Plants vs. Zombies_.


	2. The Quest Sucks!

_**A/N:**_ _Thank you for all the reviews, favorites/follows, and kudos! You all make my day a whole lot brighter! I hope this chapter lives up to everyone's expectations! Honestly, I think it tampers out kinda quickly. This chapter is also unedited right now, I will get back to it eventually when I have more time. Sorry in advance for all the errors!_

 _I had been thinking about writing a serious version of an OC reincarnated as Marco once this attempted comedy is finished. Not sure yet since there are so many other things that keep popping up in my head nearly everyday right now._

 _Also, I do not own One Piece or any of the video games referenced in this story._

* * *

 _Hellion._

That is what the old biddies in her village called her at least. Well, everyone in the village called her that, but they were all pretty much old biddies, so fuck them.

(Well, not really 'cause that would be gross. Marco shivered at the thought.)

Who knew that trying to engage this dreary town in a riveting game of _Splatoon_ would lead to her immediate and irrefutable exile from the only place she knew in a world she knew was much more vast and dangerous than most people could even comprehend.

She regretted **_nothing_**.

Nothing except maybe not being able to beam the mayor in the face with a balloon filled with pink paint and glitter. Marco had been stopped by the villagers before she could chuck that particular balloon, one of the bastard having snuck up behind her and tackling her to the ground before others jumped on her as well in some sort of impromptu dog pile. It had caused the young woman to be the one to get a face full of the mixture instead of her intended target. It had been a bittersweet defeat.

Now, here the pale blonde stood, not even a full day after what the fiasco the villagers irritably had started calling the 'Day of Reckoning' under their breaths, loading the little dingy her parents scrounged up for her. She was so sure that Original Marco had lived a childhood of bloody strife. Her she was though, getting the boot from her home for simply throwing one too many paint balloons.

True, it had technically not been her first offense. Also true, that it hadn't really been the worst thing she had done either, but for the people of her home island, it had been the last straw. Marco was pretty sure it was just because the sticks they all had shoved up their asses, that they were all just allergic to fun. The kids of the village could at least appreciate her genius, some having even thrown a mini protest over their favorite playmate's severe and unjust punishment. Well, until they were threatened with dish duty. That had gotten Marco's followers to disperse rather quickly. The little traitors.

(She carefully did not look into Mom 2.0's tearful eyes and decidedly ignored the fact that Papa 2.0's own looked even more droopy than before, like a basset hound whose favorite bone was being taken away. Marco even ignored the small pain in her chest when she thought of leaving them, that she would miss them.)

The farming life hadn't been for her anyway. Her boobs made her back ache after all and the physical labor of tilling the land just didn't justify that pain. Honestly, why did nearly all the girls who spent more than five minutes with Luffy have to have huge tits? (And the original Marco had, they had fought a **_war_** together. Screw the fact Original Marco had been a male.) Sure, they weren't as large as say Nami or Robin's, but they were still annoying as fuck.

She was looking for a quest to complete anyway.

 **Quest objective:** find Whitebeard and join his crew.

* * *

This quest sucked. It sucked balls. **_Hard_**.

She had been randomly sailing around the seas of North Blue for months. _Months_. And the teenager couldn't even say it hadn't truly been random sailing as she was in no way a navigator. She had slapped herself multiple times for not studying maps, but she hadn't been planning to set out to sea by herself either. Honestly, Marco had thought Whitebeard and his band of jolly sons, more akin to a massive raid party, would be the ones to find her. You know, at home. On the island she had been born on.

Marco once again cursed the mayor and the citizen of Uptightville. She would have preferred they all would have left themselves, like all the potential critter friends she ignored in _Animal Crossing_ , then have had them figure out the best way to get rid of a shitty neighbor was just to exile them from the town. (She briefly found herself lamenting who her virtual town had more than likely gone completely barren by now, before the thought become to unbearable and she had to shake it off. Sort of like the one Taylor Swift song.)

It hadn't been all bad. If Marco ignored the fact she had almost starved, dehydrated, gotten nearly eaten by various sea monsters, and other things that had caused some minor bodily harm, the young woman could think of a few things to be grateful for. She finally got to update her appearance!

On the first island she had unceremoniously crashed into (Seriously, she didn't mean to fall asleep! The sailing had been so boring to the point she had started talking to her own reflection on the water's surface.), she found herself chopping off most her long, blonde hair. She had cropped it into a sort of mohawk, with the sides of her head shaved and a strip of slightly longer locks remaining on top. Of course, she only did this when she was certain Mom 2.0 didn't have some sort of radar that would let the older woman know what her daughter was doing. Marco liked her limbs where they were and she wouldn't put it past the lady to somehow find her due to some sort of messed up need for vengeance.

She had also acquired (Maybe, sort of stole) some new clothes. Nothing against what she had been wearing, the overalls were as comfortable as hell, they just weren't exactly the best clothes to be traveling the wide up sea in. Marco now proudly donned a light blue corset and with blue shorts that rode maybe a little too low. The young woman had decided to forgo shoes, more so because she had been chased from the store before she could grab a pair. And, hey, this outfit was probably even less practicable than overalls, but if she was going to be a pirate, a pirate in the World of One Piece at that, she was going to looks bad fucking ass while doing.

She was 18 and partly delirious when she found him. Found the man that had been Original Marco's Oyaji. The man that would be her Oyaji too. Or at least, she hoped he would as she pulled alongside the massive, whale shaped ship. She was a little surprised that the _Moby Dick_ had already been made and set sail, for whatever reason she was sure Edward Newgate would have had another ship, at least up until Gol D. Roger's execution. She was happy to see it though. The large whale always looked so happy in the series and it looked even more so in person. If a just a tiny weensy bit intimidating. That and it also brought on the age old question of why it was blue? Had the gigantic man never read the novel? Did the novel even exist here? Wait, she had never read the novel, so this was a moot point.

Marco didn't waste anytime.

"Make me your kid-yoi!" Her load exclamation caught everyone's attention as they stared down from the large whale shaped boat at her little dingy. It had certainly caught Captain Whitebeard's as she could almost feel the older man's gaze piercing through her. He was younger, his hair not completely white and his mustache just a tad less magnificent. It was like Mario and Dr. Robotnik's facial hair had a baby. How much time did the man spend styling it?

"Eh? What was that brat? I didn't hear you." Edward Newgate was an incredible man, for that the young blonde girl was certain. His voice carried all the way down to her as if the roaring wind and crashing waves against the hulking vessel he rode upon allowed it passage. The captain before her didn't even have to yell. Marco admitted she may have been a tad jealous at that.

Marco set her shoulders back further standing as straight and tall as she possible could. Her posture was so stiff it was starting to hurt, yet she had to make this man, the one fated to be the strongest on all the seas, this man with such an enormous legacy, take her on. "I said, make me your daughter-yoi!"

"Why should I?"

Okay, now she was sure the older man was messing with her. Still, she responded, "Because you're like the final boss after a particularly hard dungeon that one has to level grind for like hours to beat-yoi." At the confused silence that greeted Marco, she decided to take pity on the poor uncultured souls that would never really know the joys and sorrows of dungeon crawling and elaborated. "I think you're badass-yoi."

Whitebeard threw his head back and laughed.


	3. Achievement Unlocked

**Author's Note:** _Sorry this chapter was so late everyone! I know I promised to post it a little while ago, but I didn't expect to have to go through as much research as I have been. I am more of a JRPG gamer myself and I wanted Marco's character to be more of an all-rounder, so I have been searching games and watching videos to better grasp some of them. Also, I have had to go back and read up again on some the series and research a little on the One Piece wiki for things I may have forgotten._

 _Thank you for all the reviews, favorites, follows/bookmarks, and kudos on this story. I appreciate every single one and they never fail to put a smile on my face. I am happy to hear people are enjoying reading this as much as I have been writing it._

 _Also, on a side note, I think this story is just going to remain gen. as I really don't have any pairings in mind for it, other then maybe some hints here or there._

* * *

She thought the food would have been better. She also would have thought there would have been more people considering the massive size the crew had been in the series. She was obviously wrong on both accounts. Truthfully, she didn't recognize anyone currently on the Moby Dick outside the captain and the food tasted like what she imagined radroaches might taste like. Marco was rather convinced that it even contained the healthy dose of radiation poison.

So, what does one do in the face of nasty, potentially poisonous food or starvation? Beg your captain/father to let you go into the tall grass and capture yourself a damn chef that actually knew their way around a kitchen.

And beg she did.

Marco found early on (Very early on considering she has been onboard for less than a month.) that Whitebeard had a major soft spot for her and her baby chick eyes, though it was probably more of the man being excited that he finally had someone he could officially call 'family.' It was one of the first things she noticed, outside the puke inducing food, when she boarded the massive, whale-shaped ship, nobody treated the giant man like their father. Heck, nearly all the crew was around the same age as the would be strongest man in the world if not several years older.

It was kinda sad. The type of sad that reminded her of that E.T. game created by Atari back in the early '80's of her old world in the sense that Edward Newgate set out to form a family, but instead just got astronomically poor sales (i.e. Pirates that were on the verge of retiring and jumping ship one by one. One of the crew, or NPCs as Marco had started fondly referring them as, even broke a hip yesterday when setting the sails and he had been the shipwright!) and nothing to fill the landfill in his heart. Marco was not shy about taking advantage of this and the blond was positive Whitebeard knew it too.

Still, the man truly did seem to love her as a daughter and seemed to enjoy doting on her as much as she enjoyed messing with everyone in her general vicinity and that was an activity the reincarnated girl would never get tired of. It was almost better than games. Almost.

That is probably why, two weeks after her initial request, Whitebeard ordered the Moby Dick into a small island port, giving Marco free reign to do as she pleased. She, of course, made sure to give the mustached man's massive leg a hug, her arms not even completely encircling her Oyaji's thigh, before dashing off down the plank that connected the ship to the shore. As she ran further away, deeper into the town, she failed to see the giant grin that had formed on Whitebeard's face.

* * *

Her search for a chef found in her in a rat infested pub that would have put any two-bit zombie shooters to shame not even. It was both highly unhygienic and creepy and the overall vibe of the place practically screamed 'get the fuck out before you're ambushed and have your face torn off by a Clicker!'

Marco ignored the creepy vibes the pub radiated and sat on one of the moth eaten bar stools. It was as uncomfortable as it looked.

"What can I get you, Sweet Pea?" A friendly voice, obviously attempting and failing to be sauve, broke the silence that the rundown place seemed to wear as some sort of cheap armor.

Marco didn't bother looking up from where her gaze was locked on the dust covered bar top as she shifted on the seat, a grimace of displeasure taking over her features. "A better seat?"

A boisterous laugh was her response. "Sorry, no can do Sugar Pie, but I can whip you up a tasty meal if you'd like?"

"Yes, please, yoi." The words were out of Marco's mouth faster than she could even comprehend thinking them. While she was skeptical such a dirty place could offer a high quality meal, anything was better than the rancidly sour ones that couldn't even be consider food that had been forced upon her the past few weeks.

Was this, was this Thatch?

The newly minted pirate shook her head. No, there was no way. Long brown hair, no goatee, the only thing that could even indicate this man was the possible future chef, outside his cheery attitude, was the crescent moon scar cradling his left eye.

Marco decided to test the metaphorical waters, didn't want to leave a future brother behind after all. Clearing her nerves with a small, discreet cough, she called out, "Hey, Prompto!"

"Thatch. My name's Thatch." The man called back, the cheer in his tone never once wavering as he pulled ingredients from rotted cabinets and a rusted fridge. Marco was surprised no rats had seem to made a home in any of the pantries. "What's your's Cupcake?"

Yes, yes it was. Wonders never cease.

"It's certainly not Cupcake, yoi," the young woman snorted, deciding to plow on. "Name's Marco."

Thatched glanced over his shoulder from where he was standing over a small flame, wok in one hand, while the other tossed vegetables into the metal object. His eyebrow was lifted in a perfect arch. "Strange name for a girl."

"Sure, whatever you say Groose." Marco shrugged, uncaringly trying not to let the excitement that spiked through her show on her face. Thatch had always been one of her favorites on the Whitebeard crew, he seemed like a prankster and she was sure he could cook on equal footing with Sanji, future chef of the Strawhat Pirates. "What are you doing in this dump, yoi?"

It was the first time in their admittedly brief meeting that the smile on young chef's face twitched down. His dark eyes, turning even darker as he got caught up in his own flashback. A flashback Marco couldn't see.

"Well, yoi?" She prompted, swiping a small strand of hair from her eye. Never once having thought she would ever be the one seeking out a monologue. Hopefully, it would be as short and sweet as Stubb the Zombie's, that undead man really knew how to give a speech and it still brought a tear to Marco's eyes when she thought about it.

Thatch jolted out of whatever dark alley his memories had been taking him down, quickly checking to make sure the food wasn't burning, before muttering, "I was kicked out."

"Kicked out, yoi," Marco probed curiously.

Her soon to be sibling twitched, tossing the cooking food in the air and catching it again expertly. He was definitely trying to avoid the subject, too bad Marco wouldn't let him.

"Come on, it can't be _that_ bad, yoi." She paused, "Can it?"

"I used to work at the hotel down the way," the man caved, though he still looked pained. He glanced at her quickly to see her nod before rushing out the rest of the tale. "I punched a customer when they insulted my food. My boss fired me."

"Whaaa…?" Marco uttered, her brain taking a few moments to process what he had said. Her shoulder's started to shake as she tried valiantly to suppress the bout of giggles that bubbled in her throat. "Are you serious, yoi?"

"Don't laugh!"

The giggles escaped. "Oh my gigabytes, you are!"

"I said don't laugh." Thatch grunted, annoyed. A pout formed on his lips as he removed the wok from the fire and tipping it into a chipped, white porcelain bowl. "I knew I shouldn't have told you."

Despite how annoyed the cook tried to make himself appear, Marco knew he wasn't seriously hurt or upset by her laughing. Still, she placed her hands over her mouth to try and drown out the sound. It didn't exactly work.

"Well, there you have it. Had a little money to my name and bought this place." Thatch sighed as he pour some seasoning into the steaming bowl. "That's why I'm here." He looked around forlornly, "Can't say it going well though."

"Ever thought about joining a pirate crew?" Marco asked when she could finally catch her breath, hands falling from her mouth. "You should totally join Oyaji's crew and become one of his children, yoi. We need a cook."

The brown-haired man finished up putting the final garnish on the top of the dish, picking it up and crying it over to where the strange, woman sat. "Oyaji?"

The blonde hummed, the pleasant smell from the drifting up her nostrils and making her mouth salivate. "The Whitebeard Pirates. We're going to be a family. The biggest, best badass family ever to sail the seas,yoi." Marco closed her eyes, grinning. "Our captain is the most ultimate, unbeatable oyaji and _way_ cooler and possibly more terrifying than any of those Big Daddies."

"I understood nearly nothing of what you just said." The cook paused in his trek from the stove to the counter. He shook his head, walking the last few steps that lead him to be directly in front of Marco, with a small smile once again gracing his face. "But it sounds nice."

"There is one tiny condition to joining the crew, yoi." She said, placing her elbow on the counter and leaning her head her palm, glancing up at the tall man. Marco held out her other hand, her thumb and index finger slightly apart to try and visually show how small the condition was.

"What's that?" Thatch asked, eyeing the woman warily, placing the bowl of freshly cooked stir-fry on the dusty counter in front of her carefully and handing her a pair of chopsticks.

Marco smiled, sitting up and taking the offered utensil. "You need to have a pompadour." She tilted her head, as she cracked the woodsticks down the middle, eagerly digging into the meal with gusto before saying in afterthought. "And maybe a goatee, yoi."

Thatch leaned against the counter, watching as the young woman devoured the noodles in front of her like it was the best thing she had ever tasted. His smile twitching further upwards. "Sure, I don't see why not."

And, just like that, Marco unlocked the achievement ' _Brother Onboard_.'


End file.
